ARTISTS
Satoko Ichihara / Q
photo by Bea Borgers
Satoko Ichihara / Q
Japan／Playwright, Director, Novelist
Playwright, director, novelist, and Artistic Director of Kinosaki International Arts Center (KIAC). Born in 1988 in Osaka, raised in Fukuoka, Japan. Studied theater at J.F. Oberlin University. Ichihara Satoko has led the theater company Q since 2011. She writes and directs plays that deal with human behavior, the physiology of the body, and the unease surrounding these themes, using her unique linguistic sense and physical sensitivity. In 2011, Ichihara received the Aichi Arts Foundation Drama Award for the play, “Insects.” In 2017, nominated as finalist of 61st Kishida Kunio Playwriting Prize for “Favonia’s Fruitless Fable”. In 2019, she published her first collection of stories, “Mamito no tenshi (Mamito’s Angel).” In the same year, “The Bacchae−Holstein Milk Cows,” based on a Greek tragedy, premiered at Aichi Triennale 2019 and won the 64th Kishida Kunio Playwriting Prize. In 2021, she co-produced “Madama Butterfly” with the Theater Neumarkt (Zurich), which was presented at Zurcher Theater Spektakel , SPIELART Theatre Festival (Munich), and Wiener Festwochen. In 2023, “Yoroboshi: The Weakling” premiered at Theater der Welt 2023 (Frankfurt).
2024 project
ROHM Theatre Kyoto + Satoko Ichihara New Creation
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photo by Toshiaki Nakatani
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New creation by the Artistic Director of KIAC. A playwright and director who boldly and precisely portrays the discomfort associated with the lives and sexuality of humans, Satoko Ichihara has been commissioned to create a work for ROHM Theatre Kyoto's Repertory Premiere series, following "The Question of Faeries (Deluxe Edition)" in 2022. She will write a play based on her field research in Seoul, South Korea, and bring it to life together with actors.
2022 project
Yoroboshi: The Weakling
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© Jörg Baumann
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2021 project
Theater Neumarkt & Satoko Ichihara /Q "Madama Butterfly"
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©Philip Frowein
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A co-production between the theater company Q led by Satoko Ichihara, the artistic director of the Kinosaki International Arts Center and a playwright, director, and novelist, and Theater Neumarkt based out of Zurich, Switzerland. Initially, it was planned for the Swiss theater company members to also come to Japan to participate in the residency; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the residency was rearranged for only the Japanese team.
Based on the opera “Madama Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini, which depicts Japan and women from a western male perspective, this new work puts the original framework on its head, instead depicting the West and men from the perspective of Japan and women, and in the process putting into question preconceived notions of race and gender.
We are hosting a script reading session where participants will have the opportunity to read Satoko Ichihara’s newly completed script aloud together during the early stages of this residency.
The Japan team is scheduled to begin rehearsals in Switzerland once their residency stay in Kinosaki has finished.
Based on the opera “Madama Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini, which depicts Japan and women from a western male perspective, this new work puts the original framework on its head, instead depicting the West and men from the perspective of Japan and women, and in the process putting into question preconceived notions of race and gender.
We are hosting a script reading session where participants will have the opportunity to read Satoko Ichihara’s newly completed script aloud together during the early stages of this residency.
The Japan team is scheduled to begin rehearsals in Switzerland once their residency stay in Kinosaki has finished.
2018 project
"The Bacchae − Holstein Milk Cows"
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©Shun Sato
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An up-and-coming playwright, director and novelist Satoko Ichihara will create a new work derived from the Greek tragedy “The Bacchae” under the name of her solo unit Q. Tokyo Shiokoujiʼs Masashi Nukata, the
musician, playwright, director and leader of the company Nuthmique, will join to compose the original chorus for the play with the lyrics of Ichihara.
During the residency, actors will rehearse, and a part of the performance will be shown as a work-in-progress. In addition, they will recruit the local citizens to join the rehearsals for the chorus group. The complete performance will take place after the residency.
musician, playwright, director and leader of the company Nuthmique, will join to compose the original chorus for the play with the lyrics of Ichihara.
During the residency, actors will rehearse, and a part of the performance will be shown as a work-in-progress. In addition, they will recruit the local citizens to join the rehearsals for the chorus group. The complete performance will take place after the residency.
